Opening Day for the Sea Dogs!

It was damp and you could see your breath. That could mean only one thing - opening for the Sea Dogs! There is a lot of excitement surrounding this team because a lot of Boston's top prospects are here, and it was nice to get a win (4-2 over the Norwich Navigators) on opening day. Hard throwing John Papelbon got the start and pitched six strong innings, striking out 7 against zero walks and giving up two solo home runs. It was a good indication of what is likely to come from Papelbon: he put up a 12-7 record with a 2.64 ERA and 153/44 K/BB ratio in 129.2 innings at Sarasota last year. Hanley Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia promise to excite at the top of the lineup, but the big bat last night was provided by Jared Sandberg, who hit 2 homers and knocked in all four of Portland's runs last night. Of course, Sandberg has almost 200 major league games on his resume (well, it's Tampa Bay, but the opposition was major league quality), so he's playing far below his established level and, at age 27, isn't really a AA "Prospect" in the truest sense of the word. Still, as long as he's in Portland, he'll be a good complement to the young guns in the lineup and make for exciting evenings at Hadlock.

I'm scheduled to go to a lot of April games, the first two this weekend against the Navigators. The weather looks nice, and it will be a great time! I'll keep you posted.